How to make a small breed dog and a large breed dog get along

[babygyrlsuga]

I have a Maltese and recently my boyfriend brought a large breed dog. His dog is a St. Bernard/Boxer mix... he looks likes peedee on the little rascals but the larger version.

His dog always trying to show dominance against my small dog. He's too tall to jump on her back.... so he stands over her. She hates that and start growling at him.

Every time we show her affection... he comes running toward us and knock her out the way.

Whenever she playing with a toy... he comes and takes it away from her.

When we award them for things they are doing well... we give them a milk bone... he eats her milk bone too!!!

She just walk away from majority of the things he do to her... but the only time she growls is when he is hoovering over her small body.

I don't know what to do at this point... We show them equal amount of attention... but it's like he wants all of the attention. We taught him how to sit so when he comes running toward us for attention, we make him sit, grad her and we pet them both showing him and her attention. Sometimes we show him attention only and vise versus. But when it comes to her getting attention only, he like to push her out the ways and get it, at the point we don't show him attention for this and give a firm no.
Also, we thought my help is sometimes we pick her up, bring him to us, make him sit, and show him it okay to show affection to her without him getting affection.

It seems like it's not work and I hate to stop bring my dog to his house because I believe when he is older and bigger than ever, he will hurt my little 6.7lb dog. I'm estimating that he will weigh about 80 to 100lbs full grown. I don't want him hoovering over my dog back at that weight showing dominance. Even pushing her out the way so he can get all the attention. And when playing how he stomp all over her. I believe at full grown weight he will be able to kill her.

He also plays very rough with her... so half of the time we have to keep him separate from her... she gets into her attack mode almost to let him know he is playing to rough...

If there any way to help... please post... but I am close to the point of my dog staying with my mom and dad when visiting my boyfriend... for her safety...

To give you more information about the dogs:
Female Maltese at 6.7lbs 1 year of age
Male St. Bernard/Boxer at 36lbs 16weeks

My boyfriend and I will be reading this post for you input and suggestion... I greatly appreciate it...

[babygyrlsuga]

http://www.petsplaces.com/member/i/p/2005/01/babygyrlsuga_100.jpg

Here is a picture of my Maltese spirit i'm talking about in the above post...
to give you a picture in your mind of what i'm talking about...

[rstowe]

How old is the St.? If he is a puppy (by his size it sounds like it) he is trying to establish dominance because he is bigger. Chances are because he is much bigger he will be the alpha because he is not worried about being put in his place by the smaller dog. Our dog Storm outweighs our Chelsea by about 30 pounds but when we first brought Storm home; Storm tried to establish dominance but Chelsea would growl and snap like a mommy dog would to establish boundaries so she was able to maintain her alpha status.

Unfortunately for you, the fear of the little one getting hurt is real. Because of the big size difference this could be an issue because if she wants to be dominant, the little one may have a hard time putting her in her place and establishing those boundaries.

Hopefully someone else here has experience with this kind of size difference and will be able to give you some advice.


Best of luck.

[NewfieGrl]

Hi, I went through this issue with Koda, my Newfie pup and Toby, my cocker spaniel. Big pups tend to play big and they don't realize how big they are. They will also try to dominate. What will be important is to teach the St. mix pup the sit/stay commands along with teaching him how to be "easy/gentle". Koda likes to be in the middle of EVERYTHING and wants to constantly be the center of attention. If I'm playing with or brushing my cocker spaniel, and he gets to pushy trying to butt in, I bring him about 5-6 feet away and put him in a sit or down position and make him stay. When I've had enough time with my cocker I have him come over and join in, using the word easy or gentle ALOT! He is an overly happy pup and tends to get over zelous. When it's time for treats I make everyone sit before they get their treat. You may have to stand or sit with him, make him stay, when your Maltese is eating her treat. If he tries to take it use a firm NO. The same thing applies to toys and playing to rough. It's something that takes time and constant monitoring.
Good luck.
Michele
owned by 2 Newfies, a cocker spaniel and 3 cats.

[rstowe]

Good idea about the easy command Michele. We use that with Storm when she is getting too rough - it took awhile for her to learn it but she is getting better.

[NewfieGrl]

Good idea about the easy command Michele. We use that with Storm when she is getting too rough - it took awhile for her to learn it but she is getting better.

Yeah Rich, it does take time. I have to remind Koda all the time. It was a new experience for me because Dublin was a completely different pup. Time and patience!
Michele
owned by 2 Newfies, a cocker spaniel and 3 cats.

[babygyrlsuga]

How long it usually takes because it's almost been two months now and I still see the same thing...

the st mix is 16 weeks at 36lbs
maltese 1 year of age at 6.7 lbs....she is full grown and weight hasn't change in the past couple months so i believe she going to stay at 6.7lbs for awhile.

the st mix i am believing will get to 80-100lbs.....

[babygyrlsuga]

He knows sit and learning stay command... just that when he see me pick of my maltese to comb or pet her and i tell him to sit, it goes out the window. I'm almost tired of holding him back from her and seems like he don't hear commands...

It might just come down to leaving her with my parents when I visit my boyfriend. She my dog that I adopted and she lives with me and I love her to death. She is my little heart and I will protect her in any way. He haven't hurt her yet but if he does then I'm going to keep her away from him. He won't be able to bring his dog to my house. If marriage comes into play then something will have to give. My dog not going any where.

As you can see i am very protect of her... and I really hoping for something to work... maybe we need to take him to a trainer for help. See how that works out...

My maltese been in my boyfriend and I life since April of 2006 (she been 3 months at the time). He got his St. mix beginning of Dec. 2006 (8 or 9 weeks old). I love his dog but geesh i hate when he is rough with my dog. I have to keep her near me the whole time. Pulling her long hair, stomping her, hoovering over her back.... as you can see this is making me upset.

[BrinkleyBing]

I don't know if this is helpful or not.

We had a foster dog...a Laila (Beagle) 30lbs for 6 months. Her best buddy was our Heera (female Saint 110lbs). Heera would do similar things with her...like literally walking, hovering over her and keep Laila in between her legs. Heera also would never let us pet Laila. Every time we called Laila...Heera would jump in. When Heera did that...we usually used to push her aside and give her something else to do...like a toy to play with or bone....or anything that would distract her from Laila.

Laila never felt threatened by that. She was a very mellow girl.

So I guess the St. mix of your boyfriend is trying to be friendly but yet domineering....that you already guessed right.

We let the things sort out between the dogs and they never had problems. Both our Saints were very gentle with Laila and would lay on their back to play with the Beagle. They would play rough at times and Laila would let them know that by screaming and the Saints would stop....immediately.

I guess you should let the dogs sort this out....under your supervision. Have a vinegar/water spray bottle handy to stop any unwanted behavior.

Taking the St. mix to obedience classes is a good suggestion. May be take both the dogs to the classes?

Is your Maltese friendly and playful with dogs of her won size? If she is...then both the dogs should work out the situation fine. Just give them more time together.

[babygyrlsuga]

I don't know if this is helpful or not.

We had a foster dog...a Laila (Beagle) 30lbs for 6 months. Her best buddy was our Heera (female Saint 110lbs). Heera would do similar things with her...like literally walking, hovering over her and keep Laila in between her legs. Heera also would never let us pet Laila. Every time we called Laila...Heera would jump in. When Heera did that...we usually used to push her aside and give her something else to do...like a toy to play with or bone....or anything that would distract her from Laila.

Laila never felt threatened by that. She was a very mellow girl.

So I guess the St. mix of your boyfriend is trying to be friendly but yet domineering....that you already guessed right.

We let the things sort out between the dogs and they never had problems. Both our Saints were very gentle with Laila and would lay on their back to play with the Beagle. They would play rough at times and Laila would let them know that by screaming and the Saints would stop....immediately.

I guess you should let the dogs sort this out....under your supervision. Have a vinegar/water spray bottle handy to stop any unwanted behavior.

Taking the St. mix to obedience classes is a good suggestion. May be take both the dogs to the classes?

Is your Maltese friendly and playful with dogs of her won size? If she is...then both the dogs should work out the situation fine. Just give them more time together.

Yes she friendly with dogs her own size... she growls at him when he plays so rough and he don't know how to quit..